Pizza Secrets and Pearls

[TXCraig1]

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[Garvey]

 

THANKS for proving the point! 

 

65) Pizza chauvinism says more about the person than the pizza.

Seriously, though, the DD hate is comical.  It's like the pathetic White Sox fans who trash talk the Cubs.  The hate only flows one way.  Chicagoans are more accepting of ALL types of pizza than the narrow minded folks found in many other places.  I guess that's because we have three indigenous styles of pizza and have always been open minded and just look for high quality pizza, lovingly made.  It doesn't have to be my preferred style: it just has to be good. 

[TXCraig1]

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[Garvey]

Pure class from the guy calling other people jerks.

I took that down before you posted.  Must have had a non-refreshed window.  Sorry.

And FWIW, I called NO ONE a jerk in my earlier post.  You basically called yourself out.  Nowhere in this thread had anyone addressed the topic of DD before I did.  Go back and read it.

[Yael]

66)    "pizza is easy, we shouldn't be complicating it".

"That's very true provided that the pizza you try to make and your expectations for it are commensurate with your skill and experience level and that you have adequate equipment for the job"

(reply 25 https://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php?topic=57613.msg578701#msg578701)

[Chicago Bob]

I wanna say something too man!!   

[wotavidone]

15. Don't buy Caputo or other '00' flour unless you can explain why you need it.

I agree.
I'm using $1/kg plain white flour from the local Aldi supermarket. The difference in a side by side test against an Italian typo 00 is certainly detectable, but I can still make a 60-90 second Margherita that doesn't burn, and is fairly light and tender.
i.e. without having traveled to Naples and tried the real deal, I can't find a reason at my skill level to justify having to search for typo 00 and pay 4 times the price for it.

[wotavidone]

What's the deal with these articles and videos on the interwebs telling people to season their stone by rubbing it down in oil and then baking it at 450-500° or whatever like you would a pan?

Most of the stones I have seen seem a touch porous, and I'm damn sure my brick floor in my oven is. Not sure I've ever seen a cordierite stone but my sandstone one certainly is porous. I would think oiling it would ruin the performance by making it less porous.

[wotavidone]

#67 - If you want your pizza to be a perfect circle, you'll have to go to Domino's
#68 - Once you understand what a pizza really is, and how it should be cooked, you can adapt to cooking a pizza in just about anything that gets hot.
May not be your favourite style, but you can always cook something acceptable if you know your stuff. Remember the old saying, "It's a poor tradesman who blames his tools"?

[Moondance]

As I was fretting a bit over doing a same day dough and getting it just right, I came across this post and #7.  I said to myself, whatever, it will still be great pizza and guess what, it was!

[TXCraig1]

#67 - If you want your pizza to be a perfect circle, you'll have to go to Domino's

#67a - or use a screen.

[wotavidone]

#67a - or use a screen.

No need to swear

[texmex]

#68  Your dough balls have a top and a bottom. 


Surprised this isn't already mentioned, it makes a difference. I used to have very well fermented dough in plastic baggies and would plop them out with no thought to how they were originally formed. The opening process ends up creating some wonky skins, and uneven bakes.

[Rolls]

#69

When making a pizza dough that calls for beer, it's impossible not to take a swig of beer from the bottle or can before pouring what is needed into the mixing bowl.


Rolls

[silviaapilinario]

I have experimented a lot with different ingredient to bake pizza at home in my ilFornino wood fired oven.

[silviaapilinario]

When you are out of Tomato sauce, try Pesto Sauce - you will definitely like this.
Start with Basil, Roasted Pecans, Garlic cloves, Parmesan Cheese, Olive Oil, Salt & Pepper in a food processor and grind them to make a paste. You can substitute the pecan for walnut, pine nuts, almonds, or even pistachios. It might take over the tomato sauce and become your favorite!

[Pizza_Not_War]

Pesto with fresh tomatoes is perhaps a better pizza topping than just tomato sauce. Having the ingredients to make fresh however is pretty rare for me, so a quality jar version is usually in the house.

[schibetta]

When you are out of Tomato sauce, try Pesto Sauce - you will definitely like this.
Start with Basil, Roasted Pecans, Garlic cloves, Parmesan Cheese, Olive Oil, Salt & Pepper in a food processor and grind them to make a paste. You can substitute the pecan for walnut, pine nuts, almonds, or even pistachios. It might take over the tomato sauce and become your favorite!

I recently use a homemade red pesto but I use cashews to substitute the pecan, I don't use salt as there is already some salt with the parmesan and the dry tomatoes. It tastes good but I won't have fresh basil all the year..

[parallei]

Mistakes can work out just fine. Just roll with it.

In this case it wasn't a mistake, but just laziness on my part. At 10 p.m., I made a SD leaven thinking I'd do bread in the a.m. In the a.m., I decided not to bake bread. So the leaven sat for another 24 hours at room temp. The next morning, I made a Detroit like dough and baked it off that evening. Unwilling to open a new can of tomatoes, I used a bit (not enough), of a sauce I had sitting in the fridge. The dough was a bit tangy, but good. 

[TXCraig1]

Mistakes can work out just fine. Just roll with it.

Applies to pretty much every pizza I've ever made at some level.